Critical Process Filtration, Inc. Tests Self-Contained System to Remove Radioactive Agents from Water in Japan

April 2, 2011

When Critical Process Filtration, Inc. (http://www.criticalprocess.com) got the call that remediation companies needed specialized help with radiation clean-up in Japan, the manufacturer and supplier of premium process filtration products and services wasted no time in coming up with a solution: a self-contained system designed to remove radioactive agents from water.

Nashua, NH (PRWEB) April 1, 2011

When Critical Process Filtration, Inc. (http://www.criticalprocess.com) got the call that remediation companies needed specialized help with radiation clean-up in Japan, the manufacturer and supplier of premium process filtration products and services wasted no time in coming up with a solution: a self-contained system designed to remove radioactive agents from water.

Critical Process, which has supplied particle removal filters for radiation remediation in the past, combined those tried and tested filters with the sorbtive beds used in subsequent steps of the previous remediation projects. It’s a technique that has successfully been used to remove radioactive material.

Though the testing process has not yet been completed, Critical Process is optimistic the new system will aid the clean-up efforts in Japan. Made of gamma stable material to eliminate the possibility of plastic degradation due to radiation, the system can tolerate long storage periods before proper disposal without the threat of leakage.

The Critical Process system comprises a prefilter, a column of a specific clinoptilolite and a final filter. Together, they ensure particles from the bed do not escape the filter assembly. The company chose to use the clinoptilolite as the device’s sorbent–a substance that absorbs or adsorbs another substance–based on the U.S. Department of Energy study in which Brookhaven National Laboratories participated in extensive laboratory-scale testing to identify the optimum sorbent to remove radiation. In that study, which used radioactive strontium 90 (SR-90) as a challenge contaminant, the clinoptilolite used in the Critical Process device was identified as that optimum sorbent.

As a result of the Brookhaven study, a barrier wall of clinoptilolite is successfully being used to clean up radioactive groundwater at an inactivated nuclear fuel reprocessing plant in New York, as well as at the Chalk Hill nuclear facility in Canada. And contractors for the U.S. Department of Energy have used the same sorption technique to remove SR-90, I-129,Tc-99 and uranium from contaminated ground water at the Savannah River site in Georgia.

“Samples of the new device are currently under field test in Japan,” stated Critical Process spokesperson Fred Arbogast. “Until the testing is complete, Critical Process can make no claims regarding this device other than that it is made using the same concepts used in successful and ongoing nuclear remediation projects. Assuming the radioactivity in Japan mimics that of the nuclear sites that have benefited from this technique, we expect to report successful results.”

Critical Process cautions that the new device should not be run at flow rates greater than 1 liter per minute to ensure dwell times that allow for adequate removal. More accurate data on flow, removal efficiency and capacity will be available after testing is completed. Learn more about Critical Process and their filters at http://www.criticalprocess.com.